Vancouver to CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA!!! – March 19

We made it! 48 hours later…and we’re home!


Now for a 48 hour long nap!

Tokyo, Japan en route to Canada – March 18

No idea about the weather, when we landed it was 6 degrees, don’t plan to leave the airport, so as long as the plane can take off, the weather doesn’t matter to me.


We spent12 looooong hours in the Tokyo airport. UGH…not ideal, but we’re doing what we can to get home

noodles made ot order

ASAP. The layover wasn’t supposed to be this long, but our flight to Vancouver was delayed by a couple of hours.

auto beer pouring machine

Similar to the flight, this airport was dead, until later in the day. We had the business pretty much to ourselves…except for the guy who had to sit close to us and snore up a storm!


I showered, had some noodles, did a bit of

lots of cancelled flights

shopping and basically relaxed for the entire time. Typically, if we had a lengthy layover like this, we would hit the town, checking out some things. Now, we are not stepping

Japan isn't quite cool...only cool-ish

foot outside of the airport!

Perth, Australia – March 17

Things are proceeding uneventfully...we are in the Perth airport waiting for our flight to Tokyo

restaurant staff farewell

Cloudy, 22 degrees, bits of rain


Despite waking up at 5:30, this morning was the most uneventful morning in a long while. We woke up, checked the tweets, saw the Trudeau press conference, realized that anything new wasn’t significant

restaurant staff farewell

enough to change our extraction plans.


On a typical disembarkation day, we would have to be out of our room by 8 and off the ship by 9, today Australian customs doesn’t want anything to do with us until 10…fine with us…our flight isn’t until 10PM, so we have nothing but time.


As we approached the gangway to the exit the ship, a few of the senior staff were there to bid us adieu…this is nice. We then turned the corner, stepping foot off of the ship nearly all of the 450 crew members lined

seems a bit too happy to see us go!

either side of the dock applauding and waving good bye…not just us, but all of the 500 passengers disembarking. If we weren’t weepy before, this display did it, it was very moving. Normally, this would have been lovely, every cruise we form relationships with crew, but these aren’t normal times, and this isn’t a normal goodbye. This farewell lasted for about 3 minutes as we zigged and zagged our way away from the ship. Faith, one of the restaurant

house keeping staff...Leah, our steward waves

maître d's who dealt with our almost nightly window requests, shouted “good bye table by the window”. This said it all…although there were 500ish guests, they remember you.


Once again, I have nothing but praise for the ship’s crew. Most of the passengers were not planning to disembark in Perth and most of us were scrambling to find a way home. However…we all have the means to do this, I suspect few of us are on our own – away from our nearest family…most of the crew are not in that boat.

chefs

As I’m writing this, sitting in the business lounge in Perth, anxious to board the first of our 3 flights to get home, I’m fighting back tears. All of this emotion is exhausting…I hope to use it to my advantage and pass out hard on the flight…I’m not holding my breath.


We decided to send one suitcase with the luggage delivery service Regent was offering…that makes hauling our stuff easier. However, we

bar staff

could do it. Some passengers had to scrounge up boxes and bubble wrap for their stuff, we saw some couples with 7 boxes/cases to ship and keeping 4 with them…wowza. Most of these people drove to the port at the beginning of the cruise and never expected to have to get on a plane.


Most people didn’t have flights until this evening or over the next few

pre lunch pint

days – Regent was putting everyone up in hotels. We had a ‘day-room’ at the Ritz Carlton Perth. We weren’t sure what a ‘day-room’ would be…it’s a hotel room for the day. We were able to dump our stuff before we checked out the city, take a nap and then a shower before heading to the airport. I’ve been in some half

Ritz Carlton

decent hotels and I’m pretty sure this is the nicest hotel I’ve been in.

After we checked in, we wandered around the city centre (the CBD – central business

add from the Perth news paper

district, very common term used in Australia), did some shopping, found a pub for a pint and came back to the hotel for lunch – we were given an allowance to use at the hotel. Next was a nap, shower, check out, too early to get on our transfer, one last drink and we’re off.

in flight meal

The flight was DEAD! Maybe a quarter to a third full. I choose the Japanese

safety demo

option for dinner…I can have steak and pasta any day…but raw fish,

miso soup and lotus root on a plane…bring it!

safety demo

AT SEA, cruising toward Perth, Australia – March 16

good bye parade

Partly cloudy, 25 degrees


Uncertainty and stress aren’t the ingredients for a good night’s sleep. We ate dinner with a Toronto couple we met when we moved into this new room – they are our next door neighbors, so didn’t even get back until late, so went to sleep quickly, but were up several times and then around 6:30 sleeping was over.


Like every morning, we check out what’s what…and we are just in time to watch the latest Alberta virus press conference. Recently, the ship’s Wi-Fi restrictions seem to have been relaxed, so that streaming isn’t blocked. Schools are closed…wow. In my entire life of going to school and then working in schools in Calgary (about 45 years) I can remember school being closed 3 times! Calgary schools essentially don’t close…when they do it’s something major…remember the flood? Yup, I do.

restaurant staff send off

Also, like many mornings, our plans changed. Last night we learned that Australia will be closing its ports to cruise ships starting today – I don’t think this helped sleeping either. We hear from the ship that we will be able to get to the dock in Perth a day earlier than planned…that being tomorrow… this is great news. The sooner things happen the better. Immediately, we start looking at flights and contact our rock star travel agent. Soon, we have a flight for tomorrow evening. At this rate…we should be home March 18 in the early evening.


Regent has offered to ship our luggage home – we’re sending 1 of our 3 bags with them, we should have them in a week. Regent is also putting, everyone who needs, up in a hotel until everyone’s flights – this is very generous. Thankfully we don’t need this but will use the hotel during the day until the flight. Regent is also transporting us to the hotel and then later to the airport.


The staff on the ship could not be nicer or more accommodating. Over our time we’ve gotten to know quite a few of them, particularly the ones who pour and deliver our drinks and our room stewards/butler. These people are far from home, are away from their families for months, many are young – for many of these this is the first time they’ve been away from home. The uncertainty has been hard on us, but wow…I’m with my husband and don’t have a family at home relying on me to send money home. The people on this ship always say hello and never let their emotions show – well, except for one time I walked by a group who were talking about a ‘s*&t-show’. The passengers never know what might be going on for the crew who always look like they are happy as clams, but I’m sure aren’t always. Some itinerary changes have meant the staff didn’t see their families when they expected to. Many of the crew are from India or Indonesia…even if they weren’t going to end their contracts when we visited there, they were going to be able to see family – that didn’t happen.


I hope everyone at home is also doing OK with this crazy, crazy situation.

Esperance, Australia – March 15

what else to do??

A few wispy clouds, 27 degrees, lovely for what could be the last day on the balcony.


My teeth were brushed, my purse was packed, and I had just pulled my dress over my head when…ding, dang, dong. Chris and I looked at each other with dread…what now? An expletive may have been used. We learn from the captain that strong winds coupled with the 2.5-metre swell means that we are likely blowing off our tender port of Esperance. He says we may blow it off but will see how the morning progresses and get back to us. Ok, we’ve been in this situation before, not on this cruise actually…we’ve dealt with many, many other issues since Jan 6, but weather hasn’t been one of these…we’ll live.


Although I’m dressed, I climb back into bed and get back online – these days this could be a full-time job. We look up how the swells are and what the forecast is and investigate the tides. Not long after, comes another ding, dang, dong. The captain confirms that the port will be blown off, not necessarily because of the weather, but because head office in Miami has order the ship to our final port of Perth (Freemantle) immediately…now there really were more than a few expletives. The captain goes on to say, that he doesn’t have any more information and doesn’t know why we are to make a beeline for the end…I can think of one reason…and it’s not good – we should be there tomorrow around 3PM.

Ports around the world are closing to cruise ships, New Zealand just did yesterday, Australia can’t be far behind. However, this part of the world is fairing quite well in terms of the virus, so maybe we’ll have a few days. Also, the ship has been in Australian waters since February 29, so hopefully that’ll work in our favour…WHO KNOWS!!


We’re dressed with no where to go, so we decide to go to the main dining room for breakfast. It happens to be a Sunday, which means champagne and caviar – we have absolutely nothing else to do, can’t make further travel plans, don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves, so we make the best of things.
Not much more info was given during the captain’s noon announcement, other than to say that all the berths will be full tomorrow, so we’ll be at anchor until the 18^th which is our scheduled day of arrival. It is possible to disembark the ship with luggage using a tender, but it’s less than ideal. We may not even disembark until the 18^th if we can’t get a flight out. Now ours is scheduled for the 22^nd, but our travel agent is trying to get an earlier one.


Sometimes we figure we could go it alone and not use a travel agent…during this ‘situation’ our travel agent has been invaluable.

Many, many people have been reaching out to see how we are doing – some even asking what they can do (other than teleporting us home, there’s nothing anyone can do.) This really means a lot to us.

AT SEA, en route to Esperance, Australia – March 14

it's over

Very overcast, 19 degrees – good enough to ‘force’ the balcony


This morning, we learned the cruise has been cancelled out right. We saw this online shortly before we received official notice from Regent. I’m glad we made the decision on our own, if we hadn’t it would have been the same decision made for us a day later and we would have felt like we were scrambling for flights etc., now this is done. This has been a very crazy, weird time. We are looking forward to our time in Perth, but more to our time at home... especially now that it seems like we’ll have 14 more days at home together self quarantining!

making the best of things

Today was a bit of a weird day. We all know we are going home, but some parts of the cruise are operating like usual…it’s weird to go to dinner or go to the show like we have for the last 2 months with a bit of a pall hanging over everything. The lounges are very quiet, even quieter compared to the last time I mentioned them being quite – I imagine it’s even weirder for the musicians. 

Until yesterday we’ve had a great time and plan to continue to have a great time, if we can, until we get home. We can’t do much about anything now. I’m glad we didn’t have a decision to make when we boarded this ship 10 weeks ago. 10 weeks ago, we knew the virus existed, were aware of the situation in China and certainly monitored it as we moved from port to port, but never thought things would come to this.


I’m sure I’ve never lived in a more sanitized environment…things on the ship are cleaner than clean. Tonight, Chris gambled a bit…no more reusable cards. Now they use paper cards that are incinerated after use – not exactly after how many uses, but when he sat down they opened a brand new box. They no longer use the mechanical shuffler/dealer, but shuffle and deal by hand…old school. Not sure how the chips are cleaned, if they are…they must be.


We chatted with a few of the staff today. They think/hope they are going home. They will be paid out for their current contracts – they will get their basic pay, but of course no overtime or additional pay. Once their contracts are over whether here or home, they will be earning no more money - there are many more issues beyond my travels being cancelled.

AT SEA, en route to Esperance, Australia – March 13

hmmmm

Not warm enough to sit outside…that’s the weather report

Today is the day things took a dramatic turn…maybe dramatic is a strong word, but today was a…day.

It started as most days do around here lately, whether on tour or not. We wake up and see how the world has changed over night, not just our world, but the world…How are things in Canada? Calgary? Alberta? Open our door a crack to see if there’s any new letter…nope. Are we still headed to Africa?...seems like a go.

That all changed when we attended a ship-wide ‘town hall’ meeting with the captain and other senior staff. During this meeting they told everyone (without blatantly saying so) to ‘get off’. If we stayed on, we were warned to expect a significantly different experience…

• many passengers will disembark in Perth…no new passengers will be allowed aboard…the ship is going to be even emptier after Perth
• no new lecturers or entertainers will be allowed aboard
• all further large group gatherings will be cancelled...no get-togethers for long-time travelers, dance parties, Italian lessons, crew vs. passenger competitions, etc., these aren’t deal breakers, for us but…
• crew will no longer socialize with guests, no dinner with staff
• excursions in the new ports will be limited...may not be enough passengers to justify different options, there may be none to organize
• ports for restocking food and beverage are not yet finalized…a lot of organizing needs to happen to get food and supplies from the previously scheduled ports to the newly scheduled ports...we may run low on certain food items, and not all menu items may be available at all times.
  

After that meeting, we decided to get off. We emailed a bunch with our travel agent (once again a big thank you to her!!), got refunded for everything we booked to come home from Abu Dhabi with, got a new flight home from Perth, got a little sad, got over it and will be home on the 22nd. 

We end the cruise on the 19th but didn’t get a flight until the 22nd. We’ll be staying in Perth (where the cruise ends) for 3 days until the flight leaves. We’re happy about being able to see Perth a bit.

Port Lincoln, Australia – March 12

shellar door...get it?

Torrential rain first thing, later clear, 26 degrees


Docking is always a good thing, even if it is in industrialville - today we are docked. This means no tendering and makes having lunch in town a whole lot easier. Which is what we did.


Oysters are major industry in this part of Australia which was the focus of today’s tour. We drove about an

these are no one bite oysters

hour away from Port Lincoln to Coffin Bay, the heart of Oyster country. We listened for 45 minutes, as the owner of the Pure Coffin Bay Oysters described how oysters were grown, harvested and marketed, this included descriptions of a virus that hit the oysters a few years ago and how they came back from that. Of course, our visit culminated with us sampling the oysters…these suckers were big! We had a healthy slice of lemon to douse them in before sucking them back. Well, there really was no sucking these back…they

celebrating oysters

were a bit too big for that. They were very tasty and hit the spot for a mid morning snack…could have used a bit of wine to wash them down, but I’m not complaining.


On the way back to the port we visited Coffin Bay National Park. Here the landscape turned from tall trees to short brush to even shorter brush. We eventually made it to an ocean

emu family

side lookout. We wanted to take the stairs down to the beach, but they were almost entirely covered in sand. Once again, the coastline was very beautiful.


Emus and kangaroos are Australia’s 2 national animals…apparently because neither of them can walk backwards, which speaks to the country’s progress. We saw some of each of these as we made our way through the park. We are getting a bit used to seeing kangaroos, but emus…not yet…we’ve only seen a few. Here and there they were darting across the road and eventually we saw a whole family of them just

the beaches just keep getting better

standing on the side of the road - an adult (apparently the dad, as the dads raise the young) and 4 young emus.


We decided to have lunch on our own in town before walking back to the ship – what we were told was a 10 minute walk, turned out to be about 20 at our pace, I could see people not being pleased by this. Fortunately, it was a warm, but not hot day, so the walk back was

and better

pleasant, but quick. It was quick because we had to make it back for an afternoon tour.


Lunch was fish and chips (local whiting), pizza and a couple of pints in a small-town hotel/pub that was playing Australian soap operas on the TVs – I think this is what pubs at home will have to resort to when all sports are cancelled.

While we were eating, we found out that the ship would be heading to Africa (Seychelles, Mauritius, South

fishing boats

Africa). This also included 14 sea days (9 in a row at one point) Hmmm, after a lot of deliberation, we decided to carry on with the cruise.


The afternoon’s tour took us around the town of Port Lincoln…the most interesting part learning more about their fishing industry and seeing the boats…and a ton of sardines being transferred from the boat to

the pilot and a ton of jelly fish

containers to be sent to tuna farms for feed.

this is a first

BTW…this is my 500^th blog post!! My first blog post was in 2006 when we took a trip for Chris’ first sabbatical. It’s hard to believe it’s been 13 years! This blog is one of my prized possessions – the best souvenir I could ever have. One of my favourite things to do is reread the blog when our vacations are log past over and relive them.

flying sardines

Kangaroo Island, Australia – March 11

early morning wine tasting

Clear, 25 degrees

Kangaroo Island isn’t just named that it is that…we saw them… KANGAROOS! Not just one or two kangaroos, multiple kangaroos! Some lazing, some hopping, some eating, most ignoring. They are by far the most interesting when then are moving, hopping especially.

Before we encountered the

kangaroos!

kangaroos, we had a wine tasting. By now my expectations for wine tastings are low, maybe this is why I enjoyed today’s tasting more than others, or maybe it’s just because it was good. We still didn’t get to see the vines (the winery isn’t actually located at the same place as the vines) but the person who hosted the tasting was engaging and gave us plenty of info. When we were finished tasting, we had plenty of time to roam a bit on their property

lighthouse

gazing out to the ocean. This is a gorgeous location – high above the ocean.

The Australian coast is becoming more and more appealing to me.  Maybe it is becoming more beautiful as we make our way west, maybe it’s the combination of ruggedness before the white sand that becomes clear blue water…or maybe it’s because I’m just seeing more of it…who knows???

The kangaroos were waiting for us at the next stop…a lighthouse. The lighthouse wasn’t

more!!

much to look at, but the kangaroos sure were. We wandered around for about half an hour just gawking at them. There’s a wire fence around the lighthouse apparently to keep the kangaroos out, but they found a way in and then out again.

If the kangaroos weren’t enough visual stimulation, we next visited a secluded national park beach. Other

beware!

than one family, we were the only people there. The water was cool, but the sand was soft, white and clean.

Chris 'networking'

great beach, and I'm not even a beach lover

Penneshaw is the actual town we

could spend some serious time here...

are anchored off of where there are a few places for lunch and a few shops. We picked the pub for a couple of pints and some fish and chips.

Today, or yesterday Calgary time, was Chris’ monthly ‘networking session’. He was able to Facetime into them using the ferry terminal’s wifi while we were waiting for our tender.

Adelaide, Australia – March 10

Adelaide from Mount Lofty

Clear, 30 degrees


Day 2 in Adelaide and we are on a morning excursion. There are only 20 of us on the bus this morning - a nice number. We more or less, retraced the path that our train took into Adelaide yesterday from Outer Harbour, where the ship is docked. We saw a lot of the small town that Outer Harbour is before reaching Adelaide where we drove around the down town while the guide pointed out significant buildings and gave info.

speaks for itself

Mount Lofty – the highest point in Adelaide, about 15km outside the city centre was our first stop . This was a comfort/photo stop. The view was pretty spectacular – could see all of Adelaide including where our ship is docked – far right in the photo. We also spotted a koala up in one of the trees at the lookout – it’s crazy to me that these animals aren’t hard to find, there are ‘koala crossing’ signs all over the highways.

one of Adelaide's historic buildings, welcoming the Fringe!

Still having high hopes for Australian vineries, we took today’s tour that included one…same ol’. Not bad by any stretch, but meh…this one served crackers. I don’t want a meal, but…We tried a rosé, a couple of whites and a couple of reds. As usual, the setting was lovely. No koala sighting here.

checking out the vineyard

The rest of the tour was spent with more panoramic of the countryside and city of Adelaide. I’m surprised at the ruggedness of the landscape just outside the city. It’s like Adelaide is built at the base of small rocky hills, not mountains, bit good sized hills. Mount Lofty, by the way is 700 metres high. The area is quite beautiful, much of the time, the rock that these hills are made of is visible.

vineyard property

Although it was apparently 30 degrees today, it didn’t feel oppressive. The humidity was low and there was little wind.

historic Adelaide cathedral

We heard that room service is doing a booming business these days. I’m not surprised…the restaurants and bars before dinner are dead. Where we used to have to wait for a window table, there is always one available…maybe that’s because the restaurant staff has finally realized what a big deal we are!! People don’t seem sicker than usual, there’s a few people hacking up a lung here and there, but nothing different than normal. Maybe they don’t want to congregate with people more than they have to. Who knows, I never love a mob scene, but a few more people here and there wouldn’t be a bad thing. Can’t be fun for the lounge musicians either.

I tried a new blog format today...not sure...I know it looks different based on what device I'm looking at it on, so maybe the format doesn't matter so much.

grapes